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Hotel reservation site rolled out for Ironman Boulder

Registration opened this week for next year's race

By Sarah Kuta kuta@coloradodaily.com

Posted:
07/19/2013 05:42:44 PM MDT

Updated:
07/19/2013 05:45:46 PM MDT

Professional women enter the water to start the 2013 Boulder Peak Triathlon at the Boulder Reservoir. The Convention and Visitors Bureau has deployed a new website to make booking hotels easier for participants in Boulder s full Ironman in 2014. (CLIFF GRASSMICK)

To prepare for thousands of Boulder visitors during the week leading up to the 2014 Ironman Boulder race, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau has purchased and deployed a new hotel room reservation website.

The website, powered by Canadian company Meeting Max, aggregates available Boulder hotel rooms into one place. A link to the site lives under the travel tab on the Ironman Boulder website. Ironman's parent company, World Triathlon Corporation, receives commission from rooms booked through the site, according to the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Mary Ann Mahoney.

Registration opened this week for Ironman Boulder, which is set for Aug. 3, 2014. On Wednesday at 10 a.m. MST, many eager athletes said they skipped work or used multiple computers to register for the race because they worried it would sell out.

As of Friday afternoon, spots were still available for the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run. Registration for Ironman Boulder is $675 for general participants and $1,350 for a foundation entry, a portion of which is donated to charity.

Ironman officials would not say how many total spots are available for the 2014 race in Boulder, though other Ironman races have had between 2,800 and 3,100 competitors.

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Mahoney said her staff has been meeting with area hotels to explain the new aggregation website and invite them to participate.

"For a first-year race, this is the best way to handle it," said Ironman spokeswoman Beth Atnip.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau purchased the software, though Mahoney declined to reveal how much the Meeting Max site cost. City officials estimate the race will cost the city $71,000 a year. No race dates beyond 2014 have been set.

An economic impact chart provided by Ironman to the Convention and Visitors Bureau estimated that participants and spectators for the event will book 2,500 hotel rooms for an average of four days, Mahoney said. For food and beverage purposes, the Ironman chart estimated that 5,000 people will eat and drink in Boulder, she said.

Those figures are based on research conducted in other cities that have hosted full Ironman races, Mahoney said.

As of Friday afternoon, Ironman participants and spectators had booked 128 rooms through the site, Mahoney said.

She stopped short of saying Ironman required Boulder officials to purchase and maintain the hotel room aggregation site, but she said it was part of the "package" when Ironman decided to host a Boulder race.

Mahoney said she'd been considering a tool like this for the past five years and says it will be used for future events in Boulder. Mahoney said she's still talking with organizers of the 2014 and 2015 USA Cross Country Championships, but said large events like that could benefit from the lodging aggregation site.

Some events contract with hotels in town on their own and may not need a site like this, Mahoney said.

The summer months are some of the busiest for Boulder hotels, she said, and many have only made a percentage of their rooms available to the Ironman aggregation site.

"What may be displaced are some leisure visitors," Mahoney said.

Doug Miller, who will travel to Boulder from Manitoba, Canada, for the race, said he made a reservation at a Loveland recreational vehicle park and will camp before the race rather than book a hotel room.

Miller, 46, said he had "no problems" registering for the race itself, but said he had a harder time finding an RV park that would take reservations more than a year out.

Current Asheville, N.C., resident and University of Colorado alum Caitlin Goforth said she plans to rent a house or apartment in Boulder in the days leading up to the race. Goforth said her family and friends will also travel to Boulder to watch the race.

"(They) have not started that process yet," Goforth said.

Boulder Twin Lakes Inn owner Binesh Prasad said he's received many requests this week for rooms before the race next year. The inn also hosts international running teams throughout the summer, so many of his rooms are already booked for those teams, he said.

"That's the time of year we are the busiest," Prasad said.

Prasad said he's completely booked for this year's half-Ironman race next month. Hosting huge athletic events "puts Boulder on the map," he said.

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